Leader’s discourse in responding to natural disaster: an appraisal analysis

Abstract

In the context of natural disasters, the leader’s attitude undoubtedly has a significant impact on the victims. The use of language in responding to such disasters is one manifestation of the leader’s attitude, which is also inseparable from interpersonal functions. The discourse employed by leaders must be carefully crafted to prevent the emergence of negative stigmas among the public and to build effective leadership. Therefore, this qualitative descriptive research aims to investigate how leaders respond to natural disasters in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The leader’s discourse is utilized as research data, extracted from five selected speeches by Edy Rahmayadi retrieved from mass media official YouTube. This data is then analyzed using appraisal analysis. The results indicate that Edy’s discourse contains sources of positive, negative, and neutral attitudes. He presents resources of positive, negative, and unbiased attitudes as a leader. Additionally, he tends to involve various contextual domains that influence why his lexical choices are perceived as positive, negative, or even neutral, such as social relationships (tenor), religious factors, and humanitarian considerations. The result reveals the nuanced role of language in shaping public response and leadership effectiveness. Understanding how leaders’ linguistic choices—shaped by their personal and cultural backgrounds—can influence both immediate reactions and long-term perceptions. This research underscores the broader significance of effective communication in crisis management, relevant to international contexts where leadership and language intersect in disaster response.

Keywords

• Leader discourse
• appraisal
• lexical choice
• attitudinal resources
• Interpersonal Communication
• Mass Communication